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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Goal Setting (Part Two)

As I look ahead to goal setting for 2013 I'm reflecting on three observations on goal setting that I learned in 2012, one of the greatest years of growth in my life. To read my prior post CLICK HERE.

The second observation on goal setting and achievement is that I found tools extremely important to reach goals.

I had a weight goal, and needed to discipline my eating habits. So I found a meal plan (Medifast) that really helped me regulate my diet. It cost me quite a bit, but I have found that often goals require an investment to achieve. I worked extra hours, and on the side to pay for it. Additionally I found tools that operated on my smart phone such as apps that tracked my nutrition, progress, and goals (myfitnesspal) were very helpful. I also loaded a couple apps that trained me to run a 5k a long time life goal that only came along because I made such progress on my weight goal.

The final tool I'll mention was my own journal. I learned that in addition to a desire to reach goals, the habit of actually tracking little steps helped me to achieve much bigger results than I originally anticipated. I had always heard people say that a goal isn't a goal until it is written down; until then it's just a dream. When I set small goals that I wrote down, and checked in daily, weekly, and monthly recording my progress I found a great amount of motivation to continue pursuing the goals. I learned one of life's most important lessons: Big things are always built from a foundation of little things. Tools helped me set goals, and take little steps to achieve big results.

Principles in Play:

Write your goals down.

Use tools to help you.

Check in regularly with your goals, and write down the small progress you're making.